Black Bean Fajita Soup

Soup season is almost over, but not quite. I was at the public library Tuesday and I decided to get some help with this month’s recipe as I was open to receiving some fresh ideas. I questioned several ladies at the library about their favorite homemade meal and I got a lot of great responses. One lady said soup, especially bean or lentil soup. Another lady said fajitas.

I got to thinking that those two meals might make a good combination. I had some black beans already cooked that I needed to use (I like to cook my beans myself but canned beans will work just as well). This would be a perfect opportunity to use the beans and create a (new to me) delicious recipe.

The way to make this soup is: put the beans in a big pot with bunch of water. Start it cooking on medium heat. Chop the garlic, red onion, red pepper and jalapeño (optional). Use a large frying pan to sauté the garlic and onion in olive oil on medium-high heat. Once the garlic and onion turn a golden brown color add the red pepper, jalapeño (optional), chili powder, salt, pepper and steak (or mushrooms) and sauté it all together until it is seared nicely. Add the sauté mix to the pot with the beans and water. Cook on low for a couple of hours until the soup develops a rich flavor.

Serves 6 really hungry people, 8 average hungry people or 10 slightly hungry people.

Ingredients:

4 cups of cooked black beans

2 cups of flanked steak (replace with portobello mushrooms for a vegetarian option)

1 tblsp. olive oil

1/2 cup red onion chopped

1 jalapeno (optional) chopped

4 cloves of garlic chopped fine

1 red pepper chopped

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. chili powder

6 cups water

‍